Veteran to meet with Veterans Affairs committee about mefloquine

Dave Bona speaks about his experience in the armed forces suffering from the side-effects of an anti-malaria drug with his dog Aras by his side at his home in St. Denis on May 17, 2016. (Michelle Berg / Saskatoon StarPhoenix)Michelle Berg / Michelle Berg

Dave Bona waited 20 years for a chance to tell Canadian MPs about the plight of soldiers like himself suffering for years from harmful side-effects of the anti-malaria drug mefloquine.

This week, Bona, who lives near Saskatoon, will travel to Ottawa and present his case to the standing committee on veterans affairs along with three medical experts and three other soldiers who suffer mefloquine side-effects, which include nightmares, paranoia, aggression, anxiety and suicidal thoughts.

Bona was surprised Veterans Affairs Minister Kent Hehr finally opened the door to the mefloquine issue at the standing committee. For years, successive federal governments have refused to address the long-term side-effects among soldiers who took the controversial drug. About 15,677 took the drug between 2001 and 2012; more than a 1,000 others took it in the 1990s.

“I am going to draw attention to the hardest thing to talk about — the depression and suicidal thoughts that can come with mefloquine,” said Bona, a former Canadian Airborne soldier who first took the drug on the ill-fated 1992-93 Somalia mission and later in Rwanda.

Some soldiers say mefloquine side-effects played a role in the beating death of a Somali teenager by two Canadian soldiers on that mission. Soldiers’ parents have also raised questions around mefloquine’s role in the suicides of soldiers from the Van Doos regiment.

Bona fell ill with nausea and seizures after his first dose of mefloquine. For years, he has been plagued by depression, explosive anger and suicidal thoughts — symptoms that did not respond to years of treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

In 2013, the American military put tighter restrictions on use of the drug. That’s when the U.S Food and Drug Administration upgraded its warning to the highest level, after research showed some side-effects could be permanent.

The U.S. military reclassified mefloquine as a drug of last resort and banned it among special forces such as the green berets.

After an inquiry last year, the U.K. government restricted its use and set up a special contact point for soldiers concerned they are suffering long-term mefloquine side-effects.

Bona says Canada should get in step with those two allies.

He is also worried soldiers who may be sent to Africa for peacekeeping will be at risk if Canada does not designate it as a drug of last resort.

According to the Department of Defence, mefloquine use has dropped significantly in recent years, with just six per cent of Canadian soldiers heading to countries with malaria taking mefloquine in 2012.

As recently as Aug. 25, Bona received a letter from Hehr noting his department does not prescribe drugs and referred to Health Canada, which continues to classify mefloquine as “a first line anti-malarial drug.”

“A review of scientific literature has shown that there are no long term effects from taking mefloquine,” Hehr said in the August letter.

That statement is surprising and troubling to Dr. Remington Nevin, who will also testify at the standing committee this week.

Hehr’s department is relying on “out of date research” from Health Canada, which has not updated its warnings since 2011, says Nevin, a former U.S. military physician whose groundbreaking research shows the drug can cause long-term or even permanent adverse effects.

“We now know, for instance, you should to stop taking the drug as soon as you experience nightmares or vivid dreams as they are a sign of susceptibility to long-term problems. But Canadian soldiers won’t be getting that medical advice,” said Nevin, who testified last year at the U.K. inquiry into mefloquine.

Dr. Greg Passey, a former Canadian military psychiatrist, will also testify at the hearings — years after he tried to raise the issue at the 1994 Somalia inquiry. The Liberal government halted the inquiry just before the use of mefloquine was to be examined.

“We are aware mefloquine can cause suicide ideation,” Passey said in an interview.

“The difficulty is mefloquine toxicity symptoms overlap with PTSD and it is difficult to tease apart,” he said.

The committee, which is looking into mental health in the armed forces, is scheduled to hear the mefloquine evidence Tuesday afternoon and Thursday.

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